Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced $1.2 billion in federal funding for ocean protection, as Ottawa approaches a decision on a proposed new pipeline to British Columbia’s south coast and the expansion of the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank terminal.
The announcement was made Tuesday, Sept. 29, in North Vancouver, one day before the end of the month and ahead of a Thursday deadline for Ottawa to determine whether the proposed Alberta-to-B.C. pipeline should be designated a project of national interest. The federal government says the new funding is intended to strengthen marine safety, conservation, emergency preparedness and ocean science as marine traffic increases.
Carney said the major projects under consideration would bring “more ships on the water and more pressure on the habitats that we are all working to protect.”
He said Canada therefore needs to expand its ability to protect marine life if an incident occurs.
The funding package includes measures to increase the Canadian Coast Guard’s capacity to monitor marine traffic, develop a national near-shore weather forecasting system and establish a marine mammal oil spill response plan. Ottawa will also upgrade search and rescue infrastructure, strengthen fisheries conservation and improve seabed mapping.
Pipeline decision comes into focus
The announcement comes as the federal government considers an Alberta proposal for a new pipeline to British Columbia’s southern coast.
Carney said the project would diversify Canada’s economy, create almost 150,000 jobs across the country and reduce the country’s dependence on the United States. He described the government’s approach as “protect-while-we-build,” emphasizing that the way major infrastructure is developed would be as important as the infrastructure itself.
The prime minister said the proposed pipeline would avoid “highly sensitive areas” and follow a route similar to the existing Trans Mountain pipeline. He also reiterated that the tanker ban along B.C.’s north coast would remain in place.
The pipeline proposal is part of a broader effort to expand Canada’s access to international markets and diversify trade away from the United States.
Port expansion adds to expected marine traffic
Carney has previously backed the proposed expansion of the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank terminal.
During a July visit to the facility, he said Ottawa was looking to provide approximately $10 billion for the project as part of a broader effort to increase Canadian exports to markets outside the United States. Government officials have described the investment as part of a strategy to expand trade capacity.
Carney said Tuesday that the Port of Vancouver is already operating at tight capacity and that expanding it would allow Canada to trade with a wider range of international partners while strengthening the country’s economic position.
As vessel traffic increases around the port, he said additional safeguards will be required to protect the ocean ecosystem, including the endangered southern resident killer whales that depend on waters along B.C.’s south coast.
Carney also highlighted Ottawa’s plans to address underwater noise, which can affect whales. The federal government is providing $100 million to build long-term capacity to monitor, assess and mitigate underwater noise across Canada’s Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts. The broader ocean protection package includes $136 million over four years for marine-life protection and enhanced whale-related measures.
In waters off Vancouver, Carney said the government intends to establish a goal of keeping underwater noise at 2023 levels, even as vessel traffic grows.
Construction of the proposed Roberts Bank expansion would also face what Carney described as “rigorous conditions.” He said that, under the proposed approach, work would have to stop if a killer whale came too close to the construction site.
The terminal is located near the mouth of the Fraser River in Delta, B.C. Ottawa also plans to support Indigenous-led stewardship and restoration in the Lower Fraser River Estuary, an area facing the cumulative effects of marine transportation, port expansion, energy infrastructure and industrial development.
Fisheries and Indigenous partnerships
Another $90 million will be directed toward front-line fisheries enforcement and the modernization of tools available to fisheries officers, including drones.
The federal package also includes $186 million for the Northern Shelf Bioregion Reconciliation Framework Agreement. The investment is intended to advance collaborative governance, conservation, waterway management, emergency preparedness and work on cumulative effects in the Great Bear Sea region.
Coastal First Nations welcomed the announcement. Samuel Schooner, president of the group, said the funding represents a step toward preparing for the expected increase in vessel traffic associated with major projects.
Schooner said that greater shipping activity also brings increased risks of accidents and impacts on sensitive coastal ecosystems. Coastal First Nations, he added, have consistently called for investment in safe and responsible shipping infrastructure and systems capable of keeping pace with economic development.
LNG expansion adds another development
The ocean announcement came on the same day LNG Canada confirmed it will move ahead with Phase 2 of its Kitimat, B.C., facility, a project that would double the facility’s capacity. The expansion adds another major energy project to the list of developments expected to increase activity along the province’s coast.
The developments are also unfolding as Albertans prepare to vote in a referendum on separating from Canada, with the vote expected to take place within weeks.
Environmental groups question the scale of spending
Not all groups welcomed the federal approach.
The Wilderness Committee said the $1.2 billion commitment to ocean protection was “pennies” compared with Ottawa’s proposed $10-billion contribution to the Roberts Bank expansion.
The organization also argued that the federal government’s newly proposed Bill C-39, which is intended to strengthen the economy, would undermine protections for species at risk. Those statements represent the group’s assessment of the government’s policy and legislation rather than a government finding.
The federal government, meanwhile, says the new measures are intended to strengthen marine monitoring, emergency response, Indigenous stewardship and ecosystem protection alongside the expansion of energy and trade infrastructure on Canada’s West Coast.
